Folding bedsteads or bed frame assemblies are old and well known. In part, such assemblies have earned a reputation as being cumbersome, overly complex, heavy, unreliable, and uncomfortable. Accordingly, many of the improvements over the years have been directed to appearance, comfort and reduced complexity.
Typically, folding bed assemblies include a cabinet or shell connected to or built into a wall and may have included a plurality of drawers, shelves or the like. The bedstead conventionally includes a bed frame connected within the cabinet and moveable between a horizontal and a vertical position. The bed frame typically includes a plurality of legs extending therefrom to vertically support the bed on the floor in the open position and handles to open the bed. Springs are often connected between a head rail of the bed frame and the cabinet to counter-balance the weight of the bed frame so that the bed frame is easier to raise into a closed position and so that the effect of the force of gravity encountered in opening the bed frame is reduced thereby.
Particularly, the legs of typical folding bed assemblies have suffered from several disadvantages. Often, legs of folding bed assemblies are fixedly mounted to the bed frame to extend therefrom and are unsightly when the bed is in the closed position. Some designs include legs which may be manually extended and retracted when it is desired to place the bed assembly in open and closed positions, respectively. Other designs of folding bed assemblies include complex techniques for extending and retracting the legs such as by pulleys, mechanical linkages and the like.
Another drawback of typical folding bed assembly designs is the undesirably excessive weight of the assembly. This increased weight puts a strain on the connection of a cabinet to the wall as well as on the user who must open and close the bed assembly. Often, the excessive weight is counter-balanced by a complex scheme which itself may be heavy, expensive and/or partially ineffective. The excessive weight of folding bed assemblies is due to a variety of factors. First, many folding bed assemblies are composed of metal members for strength. Second, for purposes of comfort, many folding bed assemblies include a metal spring region in which the mattress rests or, alternatively, a provision for accepting a standard box spring in additional to a bed mattress. If the weight of the folding bed assembly could be decreased, the connection of the cabinet to the wall as well as the means for counter-balancing the bed frame could be greatly simplified and the task of opening and closing the bed assembly would be facilitated.
Another disadvantage of typical folding bed assemblies is the connection of the bed frame to the shell or cabinet. This connection is typically unreliable and complex. It is desirable to improve this connection to increase reliability and reduce weight.
It is against this background and with the desire to provide a folding bed assembly without the limitations of the prior art that the apparatus embodying the present invention has been created.